Joey wins by half a dog
Is competitive eating a sport? That's why I hesitated to make a post in this forum, but when you see what those competitors put themseves through, and if ESPN annually covers the king of all events (Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest), then I think its worthy of a post here.
Competitive eating immediately begs the question - why? Why choose to put your body through such grueling conditions, and the prize money isn't lucrative? I suppose they do it because they're good at it, and there's only a handful of these professionals out there. And if common folk like us are fascinated enough to watch these events and if the networks will televise them, then I suppose there's a market out there for competitive eating.
Back to the title of this post - Joey Chestnut defends his title and wins the 2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. It wasn't easy because 6-time champ Takeru Kobayashi kept it so close(and was actually in the lead up to the final minute), that they ended in a tie at 59 hot dogs eaten each. That's disgusting, yet I spent 10 minutes with countless viewers, watching the competitors devouring hot dogs without shame. But the competition can't end in a tie, so almost immediately the officials brought out 5 more hot dogs each to Chestnut and Kobayashi for a "dogoff"/"eatoff"/"playoff". I don't know how these guys could go again after what they just went through, but they did it. The first to finish 5 hot dogs would be declared the winner and Joey Chestnut won by a few seconds, about half a dog quicker than Kobayashi. Congratulations Joey for the win and for upholding the stereotype that Americans are fat slobs.
I probably should have talked about Wimbledon or the Olympic Trials instead, but how interesting are they in comparison?
But for the record, I hope Nadal defeats Federer, and I can't wait to see Michael Phelps go for the gold in his 8 events.
